


Be My Hero

by achillescorpse



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Angst, Dysfunctional Family, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, superhero au, they're tryin tho, villain Andrew Minyard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-09-28 18:08:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20430224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achillescorpse/pseuds/achillescorpse
Summary: Keep moving.  Keep moving. Keep moving.That was almost all Neil thought about. It was what kept him alive, even though it couldn’t do the same for his mother.Don’t let him catch you. Don’t let him fucking catch you.You would think having super speed would be helpful in Neil’s situation, but now it only made his life more complicated.





	1. “Last I checked a Fox having your back means getting thrown from a third story window.”

“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” Neil asked, crouching over the body of an unconscious perp to check him for weapons. The stench of the New York alley was starting to get to him. “I’m not interested in being on a team. Leave me alone.”  
The man in front of him was imposing, and Neil didn’t have to get a good look to recognize him. The faintly glowing reds and oranges of his flame tattoos gave him away almost immediately.  
David Wymack was a formidable man, once a well known hero turned coach after a particularly nasty accident that benched him for good. His team, the Foxes, were just as notorious, but for different reasons.  
“What I understand is that being an independent in this city is dangerous, not to mention reckless. You’re essentially a glorified bounty hunter.” Wymack replied.  
He wasn’t wrong. Neil made spare cash by catching petty thieves and low-level criminals and dropping them off on the doorsteps of bounty agencies or police precincts. Usually they didn’t even realize what hit them before they were cuffed and in the hands of the authorities. But it was a good way to make money off his skills while staying under the radar. Being on a team would ruin that for him.  
Neil glowered at him, but Wymack’s glowering skills were just as good. “If you joined you’d make more money, you’d get insurance, and there would be people that have your back.”  
“The Foxes? Have my back?” Neil retorted. “Last I checked a Fox having your back means getting thrown from a third story window.”  
“That was a sparring accident. It happens.” Wymack said in defense. “And he was fine, the paparazzi blew it completely out of proportion.”  
Neil cocked an eyebrow, but before he could respond he heard movement. He stood and looked around. “Who else is here?” He asked. There was a moment of silence, the only thing Neil could hear was New York city sounds and the slamming of his own heart inside his chest. Then someone else stepped out from behind the shadows. Neil wanted to book it right there, but he knew he wouldn’t get far.  
“Two.” He muttered. “What are you doing here? I thought you got benched.”  
“Not anymore.” Two replied, stepping forward. He was possibly one of the most famous young heroes in the United States, maybe even the world. He was part of an unstoppable trio, before the accident. “I’m all good.”  
“You’ve got potential, kid. Why not give it a shot?” Neil couldn’t really read Two’s expression. He had a black out mask that covered his eyes, but the tattooed number 2 on his cheek was more than enough to identify him.  
Neil didn’t have an answer. He took a step back, but before his foot even hit the pavement, Two was behind him, standing in his shadow. “Don’t try to run, you’ll make this harder than it has to be.”  
Neil swallowed the lump in his throat and looked at Wymack, his fists balled. “Is this how you recruit? Threats?”  
“Only when I think it’s necessary. Like you said, I work with basket cases. Sometimes they need convincing.”  
Neil’s fists remained clenched. He remembered watching footage of heroes on television, pulling off miraculous feats of strength and ingenuity to save innocent people. Then he remembered his mother pulling him away from the tv and reminding him he could never be that. When he was a kid he desperately wanted to be a hero, despite his mother, his father, his family. Despite all of it.  
Now someone was offering him the chance.  
“Fine.” He muttered. “What do I have to do?”  
“Come with me.” Wymack said, walking past Neil and heading out of the alley. Neil looked back at the man who was still unconscious against the wall that Neil had taken out not even five minutes earlier.  
“What about him?” He asked, gesturing to the perp.  
“Cops are already on their way.” Two said. “Follow Wymack.” Neil chewed the inside of his cheek, but followed, pulling his hood further over his head. He couldn’t see Two’s eyes, but he could feel them boring into him.  
They walked down the alleyways, avoiding streets with heavy traffic. If people saw Two they would be flooded with his fans. They walked in silence for what felt like hours, but in reality couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes. They stopped around the back of a tall office building in front of an old service door. Neil looked at Wymack. “Your facilities are an old office building?”  
Wymack glanced over at him, a shadow of a smirk on his lips. He punched in the code to get in before opening the door. “After you.”  
Everything in Neil was screaming not to do it, to back off while he still had the chance.  
He stepped inside, and had to make a conscious effort to keep his jaw from dropping. Inside was a sleek hallway, lined with weapons of all kinds, and a stainless steel floor that he could see his reflection in. On the wall at the other end of the hall was a bright orange paw print painted into the wall. Two stepped in after him and looked at Neil.  
“Welcome to the Foxhole.” He said.


	2. He wanted to scoff at how dramatic this all felt, it was like a shitty James Bond movie.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil gets a good look at his new home.

Neil listened to his own footsteps as he walked down the hallway, looking at the weapons lining the walls. He couldn’t even name everything there was, but he could tell they all had some kind of damage. Scorch marks, breaks, some things were even partially melted.   
Wymack noticed Neil looking. “They’re souvenirs.” He said casually as he skirted around him to a plaque with a handgun with a destroyed muzzle. He moved the plaque out of the way to reveal a keypad. He punched a sequence into a keypad while Neil and Two watched. A small light above the keypad blinked green and Wymack put the plaque back in place.  
“This is complicated.” Neil remarked.  
“Maybe, but I prefer it be complicated than simple and compromising. Eight heroes live here, we can’t have baddies getting in, now can we?”  
Neil couldn’t argue with that logic. He watched as the wall seemed to split in two, separating enough to reveal two elevator doors, which also opened up. They all stepped in, and Wymack punched in another code on a different keypad. Neil was thinking how anti-climatic the situation was when there was a jolt. He thought they would be going up, but they were going down- and fast. Neil was barely able to catch his footing and keep himself from toppling. He noticed Wymack glancing over his shoulder at him with a slight look of amusement. Neil figured it was common for newbies to fall over on the initial descent.   
The elevator came to a smooth stop at what must have been at least twenty floors down, and the doors opened. The first thing Neil noticed was how expansive in size this place was. He stepped out to look around, trying his best to process it all at once.   
“Nice, right?” Wymack said. “This place used to belong to the Eagles, before they outgrew it.”  
“You mean the Eagles? The biggest-super-hero-team-in-the-United-States Eagles?” Neil asked, looking at Wymack. The Eagles were roughly 100 heroes strong at this point. Not only did they have some of the best heroes- they also frequently took in new recruits to serve as side kicks while they trained for their own jobs.   
“You a fanboy?” Wymack asked. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as the type.”   
“No.” Neil answered quickly. “Everyone knows the Eagles. How did you get this place?” He asked in the hopes of steering the conversation away from him.   
“This place was left abandoned after the Eagles left in the 90’s. It took some cajoling but I eventually convinced the feds to give it to me to renovate. Now it’s the foxhole.” Wymack explained as he walked out. The place was well lit, with bright fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling that was at least fifty feet up. It resembled an aircraft hangar, in size and build. There was a track going around the perimeter that was laid with black tartan. On the inside was a variety of work out equipment that was suited to a variety of things. Stamina, speed, agility, if Neil thought of it, it was probably there.   
“This is our training deck, and there are some rooms that are specialized to train for emergency situations.” He gestured to a series of double doors on each end of the room. “You’ll have full access to the main deck, but to use the specialized arenas you have to be supervised by me, Abby, or one of your teammates.”  
“Abby?” Neil asked.   
“Our resident Medic. You’ll be needing a full physical from her after you sign.”  
Neil felt ice forming down his spine. “Do I have to?” He asked.   
“Yes.” Wymack said. “Don’t worry, it’s in full confidence.”  
Neil figured that was the case, he knew how heroes got vetted, but the prospect still made him anxious. Wymack ushered Neil back into the elevator. He hit another button and took them to another floor.   
“This is where you’ll be living.” Wymack said as he entered what looked like a nice living room. It had leather couches, a pool table, and two televisions. Wymack led Neil down a hall off of the living room. It was lined with doors with numbers on them. At the end of the hall to the left was a door with the number “10” on it. Wymack took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door before stepping in. “This is your room.”  
It took Neil a moment to digest. After spending most of life sleeping in dirty motels with a gun under his pillow, he struggled to grasp the idea of having a space of his own. He figured it would only be temporary. If anyone caught on to who he really was, he could make a quick get away. He was already formulating an escape route in his mind.  
The room itself was basic, but spacious. It had a full sized bed, desk, drawers, a nightstand with a simple lamp, and there was a door off to the side that he assumed was a bathroom. It looked like a sample room from IKEA. Neil stepped in and placed a wary hand on the desk. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Maybe, just for a little while, this could be a safe spot.   
“Well?”   
Neil turned to face Wymack and Two. He didn’t know how long he’d been quiet for, but obviously it was long enough for each of them to start to feel awkward. “Oh, uh, yeah. It’s a room.”  
Damn it, Josten.  
“It sure is.” Wymack said. “Let’s go, I’ve got paperwork for you to sign.” They went back out to the elevator and descended even further.   
They entered a room that looked like a boardroom for company execs. In the center was an oval table with twelve chairs around it. In the center of the table was another bright orange fox paw print. At the end of the table was a simple manila folder. Neil wanted to scoff at how dramatic this all felt, it was like a shitty James Bond movie. Wymack picked the folder up off the table and handed it to Neil along with a pen.   
“It’s all there. Contract, insurance, what-have-you. Just fill out your info.” He explained. “Let me know if you have questions.”  
Neil knew his information was expertly forged, but anxiety sat in the back of his mind that he would be found out. He filled out the information and signed the dotted line before handing it back to Wymack. He flipped through the papers and nodded. Not at Neil, but at Two.  
Two gave his own brief nod before removing his mask. In super hero work that was a big no-no. Secret identities were something heroes went to the grave with unless they were unmasked in a fight. Neil felt all the blood leave his face when he got a good look at Two. That was-  
“-Kevin Day.”  
“What?” Neil said, probably a little too loud. He hadn’t heard anything before that, on a count of trying not to vomit on their shoes.   
“My name is Kevin Day.” Two said. “Are you okay?”  
Neil searched Kevin’s face for any inkling of recognition. As far as he could tell, there was nothing. Neil had to resist the urge to cringe at his memory related to Kevin. It was something he never wanted to remember.  
“S-Sorry.” He managed. “It’s just weird. Seeing your face, I mean.”  
Kevin’s bright green eyes narrowed at him. “Right.” He looked up at a clock that hung above the elevator doors. “Well, you might as well take a seat. Everyone else will be here in a matter of-”  
Ding.  
“Now.” Wymack hummed, moving to the head of the table.   
Neil was so unprepared he thought he might implode. He straightened his back and waited for the door to open to meet his new teammates.


	3. Neil was getting sick of the handshakes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil meets his team mates and reexamines his life choices.

Neil had never been in the same vicinity as this many pros, let alone famous ones. The first person to exit he recognized as the team’s captain, Stratosphere. He remembered when she was announced captain of the Foxes. It made big news, and they received quite a bit of backlash. While women did serve as captains, the role more often than not belonged to men. Stratosphere had a lot of weight on her shoulders, and Neil felt what may have been sympathy for her. But now he understood why she was chosen. She commanded the room, and while she was relatively average in size, she exuded power.  
Neil watched her glide towards him, literally. Her feet didn’t touch the floor. Her capelet fluttered gently as she moved towards him, less than six inches off the ground. She gently landed, and for a split second Neil thought she wouldn’t even acknowledge his existence. Then she held out her hand, a friendly grin spread across her face.  
“You must be Neil.” She said.  
Neil took her hand and shook it, though hesitantly. Her grip was strong. When she pulled away, she took off her mask. He was going to have to get used to that. “My name is Danielle, but everyone here calls me Dan.” She explained. Neil was a little astounded by how average she was.  
A recurring issue with super heroes was that civilians regularly elevated them to god-status. Neil hadn’t realized he’d done the same until he saw Dan. She was just a regular woman. He didn’t even realize he was staring until Dan cleared her throat.  
“I’m excited to work with you.” She offered, likely in an attempt of a good first impression.  
“That makes one of us.” A gruff voice said. Neil turned his attention to its source. The man who stepped forward was immediately recognizable as Steel. Neil saw him less saving people, and more getting into fights with other heroes, cops, and even civilians. He was a piece of work.  
“Don’t be an ass, Seth.” Dan said, watching him move past both of them to take a seat at the table.  
“What? I just want to get this over with so I can go to bed. It’s like 2 am.” Neil glanced at the clock. Seth was right, it was late, but who could ever tell in underground facilities?  
Following behind him was the hero Echo. She barely spared Neil a look and a toss of her platinum blonde hair before she took her seat on Seth’s lap and removed her mask to toss onto the table, forgotten. Neil felt like he recognized her. While physically weaker than most pro heroes, Echo had a powerful talent that made her not only fearsome, but a commodity.  
Neil turned his attention back to Dan and saw a man step up next to her. Jupiter was well known for his strength. He was both the strongest on the team and the strongest in the state- at least. He removed his mask and offered Neil his hand. Neil was getting sick of the handshakes, but he complied.  
Jupiter’s hand was more like a paw, more than double the size of Neil’s own. He knew he could crush him as easily as crushing a soda can. “It’s good to meet you, man. Kevin’s been talking about you.” He laughed when Neil lifted an eyebrow at him. “All the guy ever talks about is ‘bettering the team.’ I’m Matt, by the way. I hope Kevin and the Beast didn’t give you a rough time.” Neil looked at Wymack. Beast was his super hero name before the accident. Neil found it strange at how easily they threw around the name. Wymack seemed annoyed, but not mad. Neil looked back at Matt.  
“Let me and Dan know if you have any questions.” Matt said before patting Neil’s shoulder. Neil had to lock his knees to keep from crumpling under the weight of Matt’s friendly pat. He never wanted to be on the wrong end of a real punch from him.  
Neil watched as three more people filed in. Mimic, the hero could create duplicates of himself. Volt, who generated electricity from his hands. Diamond, the girl with unbreakable skin. Diamond and Mimic smiled and waved at Neil as they passed by, Volt ignored him completely. Once they were all seated and took their masks off, Neil felt like he was just in a room with regular people. The idea that any of these people could easily kill him made his skin crawl. He wanted to run.  
Instead, he took a seat between Mimic and Stra- no. She told him to use her real name. Dan. There was brief chatter among the team, talking about their evening patrols and anything that might need re-addressing. Mimic leaned in next to Neil, who leaned away in kind. “Hey,” he said with a smile. “I’m Nicky. This must be kind of overwhelming, I bet. But we’re all glad you’re here. We need the help.” He gestured to Diamond. “That’s Renee, she’s super nice. And over there is Aaron,” He pointed to Volt. “He’s a bit of a dick, but he’s also my cousin, so I’d appreciate if you’d cut him some slack.”  
Neil looked between Nicky and Aaron, then gave Nicky a confused glance. He was darker than Aaron, and his hair was brown. Aaron had blond hair, and stood almost a full foot shorter than Nicky. Nicky only laughed a bit. “I know, not much of a family resemblance, but it’s true! Scout’s honor.”  
Neil opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Wymack clearing his throat at the head of the table. “Let’s make this quick.” He said as he looked over the paperwork that Neil had just signed. “As most of you know, we’ve been on the hunt for a new recruit for some time. You were not easy to track down, Josten.”  
“That was on purpose.” Neil replied, sinking into the chair as he tried to not let himself stare at Kevin. He didn’t want the other knowing he recognized him.  
“Well not hard enough.” Wymack said, quickly swatting aside Neil’s obvious disdain for his ambush recruitment. “Regardless, you’ll begin training tomorrow with the rest of the team, after your physical.” Neil managed not to show outward hatred towards the idea, but his discomfort felt blatantly obvious. Wymack continued speaking while he became lost in thought. Whether he was talking about Neil was more or less irrelevant to him. As soon as he heard the word ‘dismissed’ spoken, he was out of his chair and headed for the elevator. As he pressed the button to go down he felt a hand on his shoulder. He tensed and quickly shrugged it off before turning to see who’d touched him.  
“Sorry,” Dan said, pulling her hand back with an apologetic smile. “Didn’t mean to spook you.” Neil didn’t answer, but he let himself relax a bit. He was so on edge he felt he’d crack his teeth from clenching his jaw so hard. “I just wanted to say- welcome to the team. I know we don’t have a great reputation, but we’re doing what we can.”  
She seemed to be earnest. Neil offered her a brief nod before going into the elevator. The rest of the team joined, and there was an icy silence among them for the brief ride to the dorm floor. He felt like he could reach out and touch the tension. He knew, even in the best of circumstances, this was going to be a difficult endeavor.  
When they got to the dorm floor Neil walked as quickly as he deemed appropriate to his room before entering and shutting the door behind him. He looked down at his hands. They were shaking, and he felt his heart threatening to leap from his chest. He sank to the floor and sat there, staring at the room for what felt like a couple minutes. When he looked up at the clock an hour had passed. He stood, kicked off his ratty old sneakers with worn treads, and went to the bathroom. He removed his contacts and put them in the case he kept in his pocket, before going to lay down on the bed. It was comfortable. Before Neil even realized he was falling asleep, he was out like a light.

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I've been playing with for a while. I hope readers enjoy.


End file.
